But Felton had obvious deficiencies—his style of play wasn’t that of a core player.
The North Carolina Fab Four were four lottery-level talents, none of whom played as the core at college but instead played a team basketball style with mutual cooperation.
This gave Bickerstaff headaches, as Felton seemed unable to replace Brevin Knight as the tactical core.
Sometimes, a rookie being too mature can also be a problem.
Gerald Wallace shone the brightest in the team’s internal training games, with his Drive Attack ability greatly improved compared to last season.
Zhang Yang brought Bickerstaff the kind of surprise he had never felt before.
During the initial joint practice phase, Zhang Yang performed moderately. His strengths included quickly memorizing tactical movements and powerful execution, indicating good memory, a sense of space on the court, and obedience to commands.
During the internal training games, whether he was paired with Brevin Knight or Felton, Bickerstaff always noticed Zhang Yang appearing in the right positions. Although this took advantage of the lesser focus and switching abilities of the opposing no-ball defenders, the ability to spot such opportunities was rare among the team’s shooters, with only two people capable—Zhang Yang and Karim Rush.
Karim Rush, hailing from the Lakers and having played under the tactically astute Phil Jackson for two years and experienced the finals, was not surprisingly skilled.
But for Zhang Yang, a player fresh out of high school, to have such positioning awareness... drafting a scoring guard from North Carolina with the 13th pick in the first round was a big win!
By October 6, near the end of the training camp, Zhang Yang had accumulated 120,000 Shooting value over 47 days, earning a reward of a +1 increase in strength talent and the basic Triple Threat stance.
The random attribute he received was strength, which delighted Zhang Yang. After joining the Bobcats, the talents he most wanted to improve were strength and stamina.
His speed was considered fast on the team, and his jumping was adequate, but his frustration was the lack of good stamina. He could still only train for so long each day; his resilience in physical confrontations wasn’t enough, often getting hammered by bigger players.
The basic Triple Threat stance could be practiced quickly to establish the basics for "showcasing talent" to the coaches.
This was not an area Bickerstaff considered strengthening for the time being. Defensive lateral movement and turnaround were immediately usable skills. The Triple Threat stance, a ball-handling technique suitable for well-rounded offensive players, was not needed yet.
A new task was set: earn 80,000 Shooting value for a 1-point increase in shooting talent, or 100,000 Shooting value to unlock the next level of training.
It took 47 days to use 120,000 Shooting value, and for 180,000, he estimated it would take until the end of the year. He had many things to practice at the moment and wasn’t in a hurry; regular training would suffice.
On October 10th, the NBA 2005-2006 preseason kicked off.
The Bobcats’ first preseason opponent—the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks’ roster seemed much more explosive than the Bobcats, featuring the contemporary Jordan, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith—who was praised during the draft for having physical capabilities comparable to James—03 draft Center Zaza Pachulia, sharpshooter from the ’04 draft Josh Childress, the capable Al Harrington, and the recent second overall draft pick Marvin Williams...
However, during the training camp phase, when the media were grading teams, the Hawks and Bobcats were both placed in the category likely competing for the top draft pick.
In terms of player ability, the Hawks appeared stronger than the Bobcats, but structurally, their roster was even worse than the Bobcats’.
At least the Bobcats had Brevin Knight and Felton as two ball-handling cores.
The best player organizing offense on the Hawks team... was Tyronn Lue, who was chatting eagerly with Zhang Yang upon entering the court.
Looking at Zhang Yang, Tyronn Lue found it unbelievable.
Last summer, Zhang Yang was still his nephew’s teammate and participating in his training camp.
This summer... Zhang Yang became his advertising billboard—"Genius high school student Jack trained in my camp for one year and entered the NBA at 17. Talented and dream-filled kids, come quickly; Coach Lue is the best choice to pursue your basketball dreams!"
At 7 p.m., the preseason game between the Bobcats and the Hawks began.
Just as the media and experts predicted, the strength of the two teams was pretty even.
Even though Joe Johnson contributed many assists, they all resulted from individual plays. Without a key player like Gasol or Odom to facilitate, the Hawks’ playmaking big men Al Harrington and Josh Smith only made individual plays as well... such a waste of the roster’s talent.
Zhang Yang wondered why, with so many forwards in 2005, the Hawks couldn’t have just picked a point guard? Even if they had chosen Felton, the team might have taken off, right?
Last-minute update, this Chapter is a bit short, only 4,500 words. I’ll make up for it with a longer update tonight. At least I need to maintain a daily target of 10,000, asking for votes! Xiao Feng saw it’s close to 500 monthly tickets, and after it’s full, I’ll add at least 5,000 words in an extra Chapter, thank you!